CHAPTER XXIV. 



CONTAGIOUS DISEASES— cc7itinucd. 



MALADIE DU COIT. 



The name maladie du co'it gives no further idea of the disease 

 than that it results from the act of copulation. Other and 

 various denominations, however, have been offered as expressing 

 more definitely the character of this affection, some having been 

 founded on its supposed analogy with the syphilis of the human 

 being, and others upon the predominance of certain symptoms 

 which have most particularly struck the observers. 



Among these designations are the following : — Syphilis du 

 cheval (syphilis of the horse) ; verole ; typhus venerien ; maladie 

 pushdeuse et chancreuse maligrie (frambcesia morbus pustulosus) 

 (Erdley) ; epizootic chancreuse (Hering) ; maladie venericnne die 

 cheval ; contagious eczema ; paralytic disease of the horse ; 

 epizootic paralysis ; epizootic paraplegia (Signol) ; dourine, &c. 



As all these terms and many others of a similar nature imply 

 mistaken conceptions of the observers who so designated the 

 disease, they have therefore been discarded, and the simple 

 name maladie du colt, which (as I have said) is merely expres- 

 sive of the fact that it is contracted during copulation, has been 

 retained. It is difficult to give a correct definition to this 

 affection, the nature of which is not thoroughly understood, as 

 may be seen from the following translation. 



The nature of the disease is not plainly revealed by the symp- 

 toms and pathological changes. Some authors call it a nervous 

 disease, and others rank it among the diseases of the generative 

 apparatus. 



It can scarcely be considered as vaginitis, nephritis, or angeitis. 

 Though it is true that the symptoms and pathological anatomy 

 show that these conditions exist, it must be remembered that 

 they are consecutive, and that they do not form the base of the 

 affection ; also, that it is not limited to such organs as the vagina, 

 the kidneys, the spinal cord, &c. &c. ; for were it thus, according 



